Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Sketchy Trench - Gnarly Punk Rock from San Antonio

Your music has refreshing melodies without challenging the
integrity of a true punk rock attitude. What was your initial approach when
starting the band?

People say punk rock ain't got rules, and musically that's
true. For a lot of us the core is still about the same shit it's always been
about - subversion of imposed norms, rebellion against a corrupt society, and
musical and personal freedom. But the specific sub-genre you might get labeled
under isn't important. There are so many amazing, passionate bands out there,
all playing different styles, and we wanna play with all of em. So we
intentionally put a mix together that hopefully allows us to do that. Our sound
is basically a blend of shit we grew up on, shit we love, and shit we found
ourselves more naturally able to write. We enjoy being creative, so people who
dig melody and harmony might like that. But we also play hard and fast and
loud, cuz that's what we like to see when we go to shows.

Sketchy Trench is a unique name. What is the story behind
it?

Just skateboarding, really. Sketchy trench, like a gnarly
ditch. Embankments and drainage ditches are just my favorite shit to skate.
Also I guess we thought the phrase had a bit of a ring to it.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing
together?

We might be too young of a band to have much of an answer
for that; we've been playing less than a year at this point. Once we had a full
setlist, we started gigging and haven't really stopped. Playing shows is all I
really ever wanna do, so it's cool. But it makes it challenging to find time to
write. We plan to take a month off soon and dedicate that time to new songs.
Hopefully once that's done we'll have something to compare our current set to.
That being said, I'm admittedly very fortunate to have the band members I do.
They're talented and dedicated, so in that regard I can say the music continues
to become tighter all the time, for sure.

How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?
Sexy J plays guitar. I've known him since 2nd grade. We each
moved around for a while, but then we both ended up in San Antonio recently. We use to be in a band
together, so we decided to try to start another one. About a year ago he and I
wrote some demos right before we recruited Sketchy T (he plays bass). T and I
had been playing for a few months in a thrash band, which I stole him from (but
they're cool with it.) With the help of my primo (shout out to Ryan), we put
the demos out looking for a drummer. Did a few shows with a few different
drummers. Then Chia came highly recommended, and once he sat in, we saw why.
Booked the first show in April 2017, first show with the current line-up a
month or two after.

You do good amount of touring. How often do you hit the road
and what are some memorable stories?
The cool thing about living in Texas is you can basically tour without ever
leaving the state. There's a ton of rad cities and scenes, so we can stay
playing all the time without having to really go too far. So that's most of
what we've been doing. We did do a run to California in January and we hit a
half-dozen states on the way there and back. The whole thing was memorable.
Makes you wanna just do that all the time. Stories from that trip involve hotel
rumbles, beached whales on the curb at Denny's, geriatric circle pits, and
drugs so good you forget how to walk. But nothing crazy. So we're planning a
midwest trip in the summer and hopefully a longer east coast tour next year.

I really enjoy all your videos and graphics. People do not
seem to understand the amount of time it takes to create this sort of content. Is
this all done within the band or do you have help from friends?

Thanks. Dude, no shit. I spend most of my waking life just
making flyers and messaging motherfuckers all day. But it has been effective in
keeping us booked, and that's the end goal. And I do enjoy it. Honestly, I
enjoy everything about being in a band, so that makes it easier to spend the
time it takes. But specifically for videos and graphics, we definitely couldn't
do it without friends. The music and art communities here work together
beautifully. We're honored to have homies contribute their talents whenever
possible. Shout out to Cros, Evil Dave, Crazy Dave, Gilstock, Speed, Antons,
Avi, and all the friends who lend us your art or shoot us at shows.